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Industry Commitment on Responsible Forestry Practices: First Report by the Beverage Carton Sector on Wood Traceability Brussels, 5th March 2009. The world’s three leading beverage carton manufacturers met in Brussels today with senior EU officials including MEP Eija-Riitta Korhola, member of the Parliament’s Environment Committee. The companies, representing about 80% of the sector’s global market, presented a report to the Commission and to MEPs on the commitment made in July 2007i on responsible wood sourcing. This commitment has a dual aim: to achieve verified traceability through a 100% chain-of-custody certification of all wood fiber used in beverage carton manufacture by the three companies worldwide by 2015, thus helping to prevent the use of wood from unacceptable sources; and to reach 100% traceability certification by 2018 of their plants that manufacture packaging material. Niels Petter Wright, Elopak’s CEO commented: “We can report some significant progress in getting a credible system in place for tracing the wood fibres we use back to their forest of origin. Rolf Stangl, CEO of SIG Combibloc explained: “We are convinced that this commitment is an excellent example of how industry can act very effectively in complementing EU policy goals, reaching out even globally. We are working full steam ahead to extend traceability certification to all our operations around the world”. Almost 2.5 million tonnes of paperboard were used by the three beverage carton manufacturers in 2007. On average, 75% of each beverage carton is made of paperboard from renewable forestry sources. Released today, the first report by ProForest - an independent verifier of supply chain practices - sets the baseline performance level attained by the three companies at end 2007. It found that 47% of the fibres used as raw materials by the companies were certified according to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Management and / or the FSC Controlled Wood standard. In addition, 3 out of the 54 manufacturing plants were certified to comply with the FSC chain-of-custody standard at that time. Commissioner Dimas remarked: “Knowing where one is getting one's timber from is good for business and allows companies to be confident that no raw material of unknown or illegal origin enters their supply chain. The ACE commitment to 100% traceability represents a valuable contribution to EU policies to foster responsible forest management, combat illegal logging and develop more sustainable models of consumption and production. I therefore welcome today's report on progress towards this commitment”. Commented Jan Grönvall, Tetra Pak’s VP for supplier management: “We are aware of the efforts needed as we move ahead to our targets. Since 2007, for example, we have made further significant improvements in the number of carton manufacturing plants certified. We are confident we will reach our goals.” MEP Korhola, who today chaired a lunch debate in the Parliament on voluntary industry commitments and their role in support of EU policy, said: “As legislators we have a role in setting objectives for responsible resource use and sustainable production, but we can only take things so far. A private sector initiative such as this voluntary commitment is a good example of the practical action sought by FLEGT”, she said, in a reference to the EU’s Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. EU Policy context The ProForest report on the beverage carton sector coincides with heightened EU policy focus on forest governance. The Parliament is scheduled to vote at the end of April on a proposal from the Commission to regulate timber and timber products on the market. The regulation is set in the context of FLEGT, which includes a call for business sectors to help implement policy objectives and promote responsible forestry. The greening of business supply chains is also an important ingredient of the EU’s recently agreed Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production. In addition to the three beverage carton manufacturers, senior representatives of their two main suppliers of paperboard, Stora Enso and Korsnäs, were also present in today’s meetings at the Commission and the Parliament. Stora Enso and Korsnäs have already certified chain-of-custody systems. NOTES FOR EDITORS 1 Environmental Agreement in the Form of an Industry Self-Commitment concerning Third-Party Verified Traceability Systems for Wood Fibres in Liquid Packaging Board used for the Manufacture of Beverage Cartons  Download Media Relase 090305 (PDF, 246kB)About Tetra Pak Tetra Pak is the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions company. Working closely with our customers and suppliers, we provide safe, innovative and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. With over 20,000 employees and operations in more than 150 countries, we believe in responsible industry leadership and a sustainable approach to business. Our motto, “PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD, "™ reflects our vision to make food safe and available, everywhere. More information about Tetra Pak is available at www.tetrapak.com About SIG Combibloc SIG Combibloc is one of the world’s leading system suppliers of carton packaging and filling machines for beverages and food. In 2008 the company achieved a turnover of 1,249 million Euro with around 4,100 employees in 40 countries. SIG Combibloc belongs to SIG Holding in Switzerland, which is part of the New Zealand based Rank Group. SIG Combibloc supports its customers throughout the entire process – from market analysis and development of new product concepts to choosing the package design and launching the product. The service also covers the engineering and assembly of filling equipment and total after-sales support. SIG Combibloc believes in the importance of thinking and acting in an ecologically sound manner. Incorporating the systematic management of all environmental factors into the operations is an inherent part of the corporate strategy. About Elopak Elopak is one of the world’s leading suppliers of packaging systems for liquid food products and develops, manufactures and sells complete systems for packaging of non-carbonated liquid food products. In 2007, the company, employing 2,500 staff excluding joint ventures, had a turnover of NOK 5478 million (=ca. € 683 Mio.). Elopak is well known as supplier of gable top cartons through its Pure-Pak® system. In 2007, Elopak sold over 11 billion cartons to customers in the dairy, juice and liquid food markets. As a full systems supplier with organizations and associates in more than 40 countries and customers in over 100, the Elopak Group seeks to bring its international expertise and product technology to new markets and applications. About ACE ACE – the Alliance for beverage Cartons and the Environment - is the European ambassador and knowledge hub for beverage carton manufacturers and their EU paperboard suppliers, studying and communicating the environmental value of cartons as a renewable, recyclable and low carbon packaging solution. ACE members include beverage carton producers Tetra Pak, SIG Combibloc and Elopak; they develop, manufacture and market systems for the processing, packaging and distribution of food, and produce packaging material at 23 plants in Europe. About 98% of the paperboard used by ACE members in beverage cartons in Europe is produced by Stora Enso in Skoghall (Sweden) and Imatra (Finland), and Korsnäs in Gävle and Frövi (Sweden), who are also members of ACE. These paper mills and the beverage carton manufacturers in ACE together employ close to 30,000 people worldwide. For further details on the Commitment, and the first report, go to www.beveragecarton.eu For contacts: Christian Verschueren Director General ACE Tel: +32.2.504.07.10 Tel: +32.475.26.03.79 email: secretariat@beveragecarton.eu News overview >> |
